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Bottom of the Hill October 23, 2002 Review by Jake Thomas Yet another great line up at Bottom of the Hill. When I got there, The Court and Spark had just started. I've known about these guys for a while, and even though they are local, this was my first time seeing them. I didn't think they were that great when I first heard some of their recordings, but then all of the sudden they got stuck in my head and I've been listening to their most recent release 'Bless You' incessantly ever since. Most of the songs they played were from this album. More importantly, they played a cover of 'The Man In Me' by Bob Dylan. Not only is this one of Dylan's best songs, it's also a feature selection off of 'The Big Lebowski', one of the greatest comedic films ever made in my book. And anything that makes me think of that movie is a good thing in my book. It was one of those great moments in music that you will be telling your grand kids about. Well, maybe not your grand kids, but certainly you might write about it in a show review. Next came John Vanderslice. Honestly, I wasn't terribly thrilled about seeing him again, as the last time I found to be kinda boring. Luckily, this show was much better. I don't know if it was because I was in a different mood than last time or if the show really was better, but either way I was pleased with the turn of events. I found the songs to be much more entertaining and catchy, but couldn't say if they were new or different than those I heard last time. That said, the real story during his part of the show was the drummer. He was one of the oddest and most dramatic drummers I think I've ever seen. His kit was quite different from any I have ever seen before - he had one cymbal set up way above his head, and all of his drums were just slightly different from your conventional set up. Moreover, he switched his two crash cymbals between every song - not just once or twice, but literally every song. On top of that, he would pantomime to the lyrics from time to time, stand up during songs, and just generally act weird. All of that aside, he was a pretty incredible drummer, and really livened up John Vanderslice's songs in a way that I enjoyed. I probably spent 75% of my time during this part of the show watching him. Finally, The Mountain Goats came on the stage. And by The Mountain Goats, I mean John Darnielle. I had only heard one song before this show, the one about the death metal band from Texas. I was really hoping he would play this song, but I wasn't alone - it was one of those shows where everyone on the crowd is yelling out their favorite obscure song that was only available on some bootleg that came out years ago. I just kept quiet and hoped I would get lucky. Since this was the only song I had heard, I wasn't really sure what to expect from the rest of his material...but what I got overwhelmingly exceeded what I might have feasibly thought this show might turn out to be. I honestly don't think I could use words to describe how amazing this show was, but I'll just say that it made me want to rush out and buy everything I could possibly find by the man. It was definitely one of the best shows I've seen all year, and probably one of the best I've seen ever. Every song is a story - I tried to describe the sound to my girlfriend as having your favorite author become a singer-songwriter. There were so many good songs played, that it would be impossible to go into them all; but to my great fortune, he did play the song I wanted to hear during the encore. He wrapped up the show with a cover song - Ace of Base's 'I Saw the Sign'. He forced the crowd to sing along, and when they didn't at first he yelled at everyone (in a good natured manner) until they finally sang along. It was a comical situation, but the song itself was made quite enjoyable under his deft construction. I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt the energy coming from the stage for the entire performance, and I will be thinking about this show for some time to come. Needless to say, if The Mountain Goats ever play anywhere near me again, I'll be there with bells on. --- Read our previous review of The Mountain Goats: Review - Bottom of the Hill, September 17, 2000 Read more of our reviews of The Court and Spark: Review - Bottom of the Hill, May 4, 2001 Review - Great American Music Hall, April 28, 2001 Review - Noe Valley Ministry, March 30, 2001 Review - Second Annual Sleepless Nights, Great American Music Hall, August 12, 2000 ©2002 playinginfog.com |